1972 Summer Olympics

The Games of the XX Olympiad were held in 1972 in Munich, Germany. In the bid to organise the Olympics, Munich beat out Detroit, Madrid and Montreal.

Related Topics:
1972 - Munich - Germany - Detroit - Madrid - Montreal

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

After the 1936 Games in Berlin, it was the second time for the Summer Olympics to take place in Germany. As a counterpart to the Berlin Olympics the Munich Olympics were supposed to present a new, democratic and optimistic Germany to the world, therefore the motto of the Munich Games was "The happy Games". The emblem was called "Bright Sun", the mascot was a (for Munich very typical) dachshund called "Waldi".

Related Topics:
1936 - Berlin - Dachshund

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Olympic Park consists of several sport sites, e.g. the Olympic swimming hall, the "Olympiahalle" (a multipurpose facility) and the Olympic stadium (Olympiastadion). The Olympic village is in the very nearby of the park. The sport sites' architect's name is Günther Behnisch whose design of the stadium at the time of its erection was considered revolutionary: large sweeping canopies of plexiglass stabilized by metal ropes were used for the first time in such scale.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The Munich Games were marred by an act known as the Munich Massacre. On September 5, Palestinian terrorists held 11 Israeli athletes hostages in their apartement in the Olympic village for three days. After a failed rescue attempt at the military airport of Fürstenfeldbruck, every Israeli hostage and all but three of the militants were killed. All Olympic events were briefly suspended but Avery Brundage, the IOC President, decided that "The Games must go on" and so they were continued a day later.

Related Topics:
Munich Massacre - September 5 - Palestinian - Israel - Fürstenfeldbruck - Avery Brundage - IOC

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~